


As I Am

by Liris



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (2012)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, No spoilers for Iron Man 3, SO MUCH FLUFF, The Author Regrets Nothing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-05
Updated: 2013-05-05
Packaged: 2017-12-10 12:27:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/786051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liris/pseuds/Liris
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Don’t take me out of duty, and don’t take me out of pride<br/>Just take me if the man you see is one you’d stand beside<br/>I’m offering an open heart, I’m asking for your hand<br/>And I only ask you take me, you take me as I am</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Rating for mild language use.</p>
            </blockquote>





	As I Am

**Author's Note:**

> This little story was inspired very heavily by the song ‘As I Am’ by Heather Dale. It is beautiful and I highly suggest listening to it – you can find it on youtube. I would include a link in the text, but I have no idea how to do that; if anybody could tell me, I would be very grateful.
> 
> This is set after The Avengers; Tony and Pepper are living in Stark Tower, and Pepper is still CEO of SI. Other than that, set it whenever you like in the MCU-verse. I have seen Iron Man 3, but this is spoiler-free.

“Pepper…” Tony’s voice rang out over the house intercom. Pepper was too used to him demanding things at odd moments to jump anymore at the unexpected interruption, so merely continued gathering her belongings and shrugging into her blazer. She was going to be late for her first meeting of the day if she let him side-track her.

“Tony, I don’t really have the time for this. I have a company to run.”

“Yeah, I know, I gave it to you. Look, it’ll cope without you for five minutes; I really need to talk to you, just for a minute…”

Pepper sighed and clutched her tablet closer to her chest. He would keep bothering her until she gave in, so she may as well get whatever it was he wanted over and done with. Everyone would have a more productive day that way.

“Alright Tony. What do you want?”

There was a pause before he answered, and now that she was paying proper attention, Pepper could hear the faint tremor in his voice when he spoke.

“I want to see you. I need to do this face-to-face.”

Pepper’s eyes widened and she dropped her tablet onto the nearest flat surface, turning and hurrying as fast as she could to the elevator. If the bastard was dying again, she was going to punch him, even if he was keeping to his word and actually _telling her_ this time. She had had enough of her boyfriend almost losing his life; if nothing else, it played havoc with the company stocks.

JARVIS opened the door for her as she approached and automatically carried her directly down to Tony’s basement-level workshop. She straightened her skirt nervously.

“Okay, I’m on my way. I’m coming.”

She could hear him exhale shakily over the intercom – JARVIS was probably supposed to filter that out – and her stomach clenched. What had he done to himself this time? The door opened directly into the shop, and she stepped out, immediately seeking him out in the far corner. He was indeed over there, pacing beside a small table that was not normally there. There was a chair on either side of the table, and what appeared to be a hamper behind it. The similarity to the time he promoted her to CEO did not escape her. She rushed forward, slowing to a stop mere feet from his still pacing form.

“Tony? What’s happened, what’s wrong?”

He stopped moving and blinked at her, one hand pushing nervously through his hair.

“Wrong? Nothing, at least I hope there isn’t, I haven’t been out of the workshop in a while, but I told JARVIS to alert me if anything end-of-the-world-y happened…”

She stepped forward and pushed her hand against his lips. “Stop babbling and tell me what’s so urgent.” She didn’t believe him when he told her that nothing was wrong. He was almost shaking.

He closed his eyes for a moment, then pursed his lips in a kiss against her palm before pulling away.

“Right. Sorry. And it’s not _urgent_ , per say, but I wanted to do this tonight before anything else happens. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Tony never meant to scare her, but it happened pretty regularly anyway. She relaxed slightly, annoyance beginning to once again replace the fear. Tony wasn’t dying. At least, it didn’t appear that way.

“Are you dying again?” Better make sure, just in case. He blinked at her, nonplussed, then shook his head.

“No more so than usual.”

Oh, good. She let irritation wash over her, the adrenaline that had chased her down here fading.

“Then I need to get to the office.”

Tony ran a hand through his hair again.

“Can’t it wait until tomorrow? We haven’t had a proper date night in weeks, and there was something I needed to…”

Pepper sighed and crossed her arms.

“Tony, it’s eight am. You were in here all night again.”

Tony winced. Now that he wasn’t babbling nervously, he was being far too quiet. No quips, no sarcasm, and he wasn’t making proper eye contact. The public didn’t think that Tony knew how to be self-conscious, and for the most part they were right. It only happened when he really wasn’t sure of his reception. She didn’t like that he was acting like that around her; her arms dropped to her side and she stepped closer. Tony perched on the edge of the table, so she carefully put her hands on his shoulders. He leaned into the touch, so that was something.

“Right. Okay. Never mind, another time then.”

“Tony.” She squeezed his shoulders, and he closed his eyes before looking up directly into her eyes. His fingers wrapped around her wrists.

“Okay. Hear me out before you say anything, alright, because this is… I have no idea what I’m doing here, so you just need to let me say everything before you answer me, yeah?”

Pepper nodded. Tony took a deep breath, then went for it.

“You’re everything to me, Pep; you’re the one thing I can’t live without, and I don’t ever want to try. I wouldn’t last a week. Hell, I don’t even know my social security number. And I know I haven’t been great at this. The boyfriend thing. It’s been a while since I’ve done it, but I’ve tried, and I’ll keep trying for as long as you’ll let me. And... balls, I’m making a mess of this. I love you, Pep, so much. And I know you love me; you wouldn’t put up with all this if you didn’t. The hours, and the forgetting anniversaries, and the almost-dying. Iron Man. You’re a saint, and I don’t deserve you. Nobody does, but I want to try. I really want to try.”

He released her wrists and fumbled with his pocket, pulling a box from within. Pepper felt her eyes grow very wide, and her fingers clenched against him reflexively. Was that… was he?

He flicked the box open, and oh, god, he was. That was a diamond ring.

Tony swallowed hard and pushed away from the edge of the table, turning so their positions were reversed. Pepper allowed herself to collapse into one of the chairs, eyes locked on Tony’s. He paused for a moment, then a small smile flicked across his face and he knelt down before her.

“So, if you think you can love all that for the rest of your life – or, my life, more realistically, because let’s face it, I’m going to go first…”

Pepper leaned forward and cut him off with a kiss. He faltered for a microsecond before bringing his hands to her shoulders and holding her to him, kissing her like he was trying to drink her in. She closed her eyes and pulled away slowly. The media would have a field day. There were already rumours in the rags that she had slept her way to the top; they would be flat out calling her a gold-digger when this came to light. The press would be all over both of them, the company’s stocks would probably flat-line for a period, there would be _worldwide_ speculation about every aspect of her life, and his. Tony had been the media’s golden boy since he was in diapers, and his entire sordid history would be dredged up, just because they could. He was obviously willing to put up with it – he wouldn’t have asked her otherwise. But was she?

Yes. Yes, she really was. Because she wouldn’t be marrying Anthony Stark, playboy billionaire. She wouldn’t even be marrying Iron Man. She’d be marrying Tony, the insomniac, genius mechanic who put everybody else’s lives above his own. The man, not the myth. And the man was worth it.

She smiled softly as she opened her eyes, stroking his cheek.

“Yes.”

He blinked, then a slow smirk spread across his face.

“I didn’t actually ask you anything yet.”

She scowled at him.

“Then get on with it.”

He laughed at that, and all the tension drained out of him. He balanced the ring box on her knee, holding the metal band itself in his right hand. It glittered gold in the soft workshop lighting, with three medium-sized, crystal clear diamonds set in it. She had half expected something huge that shouted to the world ‘I’m marrying a billionaire’, but this was almost simple in its design. It was elegant, and beautiful, and she loved it. Tony grinned at her.

“Virginia Potts, would you marry me?”

She considered making some kind of jokey reply, but given how nervous he’d been about asking her, even now he already knew she was going to agree, it felt tasteless. So she settles for repeating a soft ‘yes’, kissing him once again as he slid the ring onto her finger. It was heavier than she was expecting it to be.

“What’s it made of?” she asked, tilting her hand to see the way it looked. He leaned back on his heels and rubbed his hands on her thighs, smiling widely.

“Gold-titanium alloy – the same Iron Man is made of. Rhodey helped me pick out the diamonds.”

Of course he did; the colonel had always been more conservative than the engineer. The smaller stones made more sense now. Despite that, the ring was still utterly unique – not that she would have expected anything less. Tony was not the kind to do things by halves, and to propose to her with what was essentially a part of the Iron Man was more than him staking a claim on her, though she didn’t doubt that was also part of the reason behind it. It was a promise to protect her, and it was an offering. He was giving her everything – the Iron Man armour was his safe place, ridiculous as that sounded. When he was upset, or scared, he went to the armour, and he made it faster, stronger, better. And he was giving it to her.

“I love it, Tony,” she said, smiling.

The way he lit up at her words made it totally worth being half an hour late to her first meeting of the day.

**Author's Note:**

> The lyrics to 'As I Am' are here:
> 
> I suppose that I look different without the robes and crown  
> I come this day before you with no riches, no renown  
> For here am no leader, I am just a humble man  
> And I only ask you take me, you take me as I am
> 
> I’m not looking for perfection, and I’m not offering a saint  
> No I’m not looking for a pretty bird to put in some restraint  
> The only thing I want is that you love me, if you can  
> And I only ask you take me, you take me as I am
> 
> I offer you a look inside, I offer you that trust  
> I need your strength to help me fight the battles that I must  
> I need you to remind of the light we bear within  
> That there’s more to life than struggle and the things we seek to win
> 
> Don’t take me out of duty, and don’t take me out of pride  
> Just take me if the man you see is one you’d stand beside  
> I’m offering an open heart, I’m asking for your hand  
> And I only ask you take me, you take me as I am
> 
> Take me as I am


End file.
